EDIA Educational Technology and Google Apps for Education Policy 

Google Apps for Education runs on an Internet domain purchased and owned by Everyday Ibaadah Academy and is intended for educational use. Your student’s teachers will be using the email feature for school communication, to receive assignments via ThinkWave, and/or utilize various Google Apps teachers may incorporate in their classrooms. Students will not use the Google Chat or Google Hangouts features at this time.

Google Apps for Education is also available at home, the library, or anywhere with Internet access. School staff will monitor student use of Apps when students are in their online classrooms. Parents are responsible for monitoring their child’s use of Apps when accessing programs virtually. Students are responsible for their own behavior at all times.

Acceptable Use: (Privacy and Safety)

Apps for Education is primarily for educational use. Students may use Apps for personal use subject to the restrictions below and additional school rules and policies that may apply.

School staff, administrators, and parents all have access to student’s email for monitoring purposes. Students have no expectation of privacy on the Apps system.

Students may use Apps tools for personal projects but may not use them for unlawful activities:

Commercial purposes (running a business or trying to make money)

Personal financial gain (running a web site to sell things)

Inappropriate or other offensive content, threatening another person, misrepresentation of EDIA, staff, or students. Apps, sites, email, and groups are not public forums. They are extensions of classroom spaces where student free speech rights may be limited.

● Students may not post personal contact information about themselves or other people. That includes but not limited to last names, addresses, and phone numbers.

● Students agree not to meet with someone they have met online without their parent’s approval and participation.

● Students will tell their teacher or other school employee about any message they receive that is inappropriate or makes them feel uncomfortable.

● Students are responsible for the use of their individual accounts and should take all reasonable precautions to prevent others from being able to use their account. Under no conditions should a user provide his or her password to another person.

Access to Google Apps for Education is considered a privilege accorded at the discretion of EDIA. Everyday Ibaadah Academy maintains the right to immediately withdraw the access and use of Apps when there is reason to believe that violations of law or EDIA policies have occurred. In such cases, the alleged violation will be referred to the Principal for further investigation, suspension, termination, or account restoration.

As a party of the Agreement with Google, the school also reserves the right to immediately suspend any user’s account suspected of inappropriate use. Pending review, a user’s account may be terminated as part of such action.

Consumer Safety: (Advice for Students and Parents)

Don't get scammed. Crooks are good at fooling people. They create fake emails and web pages that look real in a practice called phishing. Don't trust links or web pages sent by email. Instead, open a new browser window and type in the address yourself.

Don't get spammed. Spam is unwanted advertising sent by email. Never reply to spam and never do business with a company that sends spam. Use the "report spam" button to get rid of spam.

Treat others well. It hurts to get a mean email just like it hurts when someone

is mean in the school hallway. When using email or making a post on a forum or web page, be kind. Everyone will see what you write so think before you type. Be careful with what you say about others and yourself.

Respect the rights of copyright owners. Copyright infringement occurs when an individual reproduces a work without permission that is protected by a copyright. If a work contains language that specifies acceptable use of that work, the user should follow the expressed requirements. If the user is unsure

whether or not they can use a work, they should request permission from the copyright owner.

Students have First Amendment rights to free speech. Your rights can be limited in school, though. If you post something via email or on a school web page that disturbs the learning environment in your school, your right of speech may be limited. School websites, email, and groups are for educational use and are not considered public forums. This means that a school has the right to limit student speech that disturbs the learning process in these areas. These are the laws and policies that help to protect our students online:

The school is required by CIPA to have technology measures and policies in place that protect students from harmful materials including those that are obscene. This means that student email is filtered. Mail containing harmful content from inappropriate sites will be blocked.

-- CIPA - http://fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/cipa.html

COPPA applies to commercial companies and limits their ability to collect personal information from children under 13. By default, Google advertising is turned off for Apps for Education users. No personal student information is collected for commercial purposes. This permission form allows the school to act as an agent for parents in the collection of information within the school context. The school’s use of student information is solely for education purposes.

-- COPPA - http://www.ftc.gov/privacy/coppafaqs.shtm

Google for education provides accessibility to technology for students with disabilities through a variety of tools and resources which enable students to access learning from a range of different modalities. Here are some features Google has to support students with disabilities:

● Screen Magnifiers and High Contrast Themes: Think of this like turning up the brightness and clarity on a visual display. It helps students see everything more clearly, making it easier to focus and understand content.

● Braille Support: This tool transforms digital text into Braille, allowing students to 'read' their screens through touch. Note: A separate Braille display device is required to utilize this feature.

● Live captions in Google Meet display a real-time text version of the conversation. This feature ensures that students who are deaf or hard of hearing can follow every word during virtual classes and meetings, helping them stay connected and engaged.

● Closed captions in Google Slides automatically transcribe spoken text during live presentations, making it easier for students with hearing challenges to grasp the material being discussed.

● Voice Typing in Google Workspace for Education helps students speak their ideas directly into documents, presentations, and discussions.

● Customizable keyboard shortcuts offer a quick way to navigate and interact with the program. These shortcuts essentially act like special instructions that unlock faster ways to navigate different parts of the program. They can move around and interact with everything much quicker, making learning more efficient.

● Built-in Grammar and Spell Check: This feature helps students with learning differences, like ADHD or dyslexia, maintain focus by automating error correction. Instead they can focus their attention to concentrating and crafting ideas without the distraction of fixing spelling and grammar mistakes.

● Explore: This tool allows students to find and access a wide variety of educational resources, suggestions, tools, and information instantly, making it easier for them to gather and organize information for their assignments.

● Select-to-Speak: This feature allows students to highlight text and have it read aloud, which can help with comprehension and retention, especially for those with reading difficulties.

FERPA protects the privacy of student education records and gives parents rights to review student records. Under FERPA, schools may disclose directory information (name, phone, address, grade level, etc...) but parents may request that the school not disclose this information.

The school will not publish confidential educational records (grades, student ID #, etc...) for public viewing on the internet. The school may publish student work and photos for public viewing but will not publish student last names or other personally identifiable information.

Parents may request that photos, names, and general directory information about their children not be published. Parents have the right at any time to investigate the contents of their child’s email and Apps for Education files.

- FERPA - http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact our IT manager, Mrs. Tahniath at stahniath@everydayibaadahacademy.com. Please use this link in order to sign this agreement form:

https://forms.gle/dxeHvSg8nNqo9cvp9